Posts

People tend to be more familiar with the nocebo effect’s counterpart, the placebo effect. In medical studies, a group of participants known as the control group will be given a sham treatment, often a sugar pill, that they believe is the real treatment. As a result of believing that the treatment is real, participants will sometimes have positive results such as feeling better or an improvement in their symptoms. In the placebo effect, people experience positive effects as a result of their positive expectations....

What Is Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder? Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder (OCPD) is defined by strict orderliness, control, and perfectionism. Someone with OCPD will likely try to stay in charge of the smallest details of their life, even at the expense of their flexibility and openness to new experiences. OCPD is a personality disorder, which means it involves personality traits that are stable, long-held, atypical, and problematic in some way. In the case of OCPD, people with this condition may find it hard to relate to others, and their devotion to perfectionism and rigid control can make it difficult to function....

It is when the concern crosses over from being an inborn protective mechanism to disrupting everyday life that it is designated a phobia. Causes Nyctophobia, also referred to as scotophobia, achluophobia, and lygophobia, may be evolutionary in nature, as many predators hunt at night. The fear may not be related to darkness itself but unknown dangers hidden in the darkness (which is why horror and suspense movies often use darkness as a way to scare viewers)....

It’s a form of pica, which is a disorder that causes people to crave and eat items that are not food or have no nutritional value. For example, a person with pica might find themselves longing for and consuming things like chalk or sand. If you are a person who has a habit of chewing ice occasionally, you should know that this isn’t abnormal and isn’t harmful to your health....

When you are experiencing grief, you may feel it both mentally and physically. During this time, you may experience a variety of physical symptoms that are part of the normal grief response. This article discusses some of the physical symptoms of grief and describes some of the strategies that you can use to cope. Digestive Problems and Weight Changes Often connected with the disruption to normal eating habits or routines, bereavement can cause temporary digestive problems such as constipation, diarrhea, stomach pain, a “hollow feeling” in the stomach, queasiness, or feeling nauseated....

What separates a porn addiction from a keen interest in porn is the negative consequences of the behavior. With porn addiction, you spend an inordinate amount of time watching porn instead of interacting with others or completing important tasks. The behavior persists even if it harms your career, relationships, or state of well-being. As the American Psychological Association (APA) notes, experts don’t agree about the effects of pornography. Proponents suggest that it can help people improve their sex lives and provide a safe outlet for desires....

They found that fetuses of women with greater prenatal depression symptoms had weaker white matter connections between brain regions involved in emotional processing. These conclusions may explain why children of depressed mothers have a higher risk of developing depression themselves, researchers concluded. Neural Connections Researchers conducting the study looked at 54 pregnant women and asked them to answer Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) survey questions pertaining to their depression symptoms during their second and third trimester, and also at three months postpartum....

Those “events” could be fleeting, says the study’s lead author, Nikki Puccetti, Ph.D.(c) in the Department of Psychology at the University of Miami. For example, dropping your morning coffee, receiving a testy email from your boss, or getting cut off in traffic are the kind of everyday annoyances that may seem easy to brush off, but when they linger, it can affect how you view other, happier moments, Puccetti says....

Depending on its severity, it may cause a person to either find it tricky to recognize faces or make it impossible for a person to distinguish one face from another. In some instances, a person might be unable to distinguish between a face and an inanimate object or recognize their face in a mirror. People with this condition cannot identify the faces of even their closest family and friends. Prosopagnosia falls under an umbrella condition known as agnosias....

Research on the use of psychedelics flourished during the 1950s and 1960s until such substances were made illegal in the United States. While psychedelic drugs such as LSD and psilocybin are still illegal in the U.S., they are believed to have the potential to treat a range of conditions including anxiety, depression, and addiction. Over the last two decades, researchers have gotten approval from authorities to conduct trials on the use of these substances to treat various conditions....

Finding a solid topic is one of the most important steps when writing any type of paper. It can be particularly important when you are writing a psychology research paper or essay. Psychology is such a broad topic, so you want to find a topic that allows you to adequately cover the subject without becoming overwhelmed with information. In some cases, such as in a general psychology class, you might have had the option to select any topic from within psychology’s broad reaches....

With regard to arthritis, several studies have found that veterans and people in the general community with PTSD are at higher risk of having arthritis. However, it is important to note that there are several different forms of arthritis. These studies did not look at a specific form of arthritis, including juvenile arthritis, osteoarthritis, and rheumatoid arthritis. What Is Rheumatoid Arthritis? Rheumatoid arthritis affects approximately 1.3 million people in the United States....

SAD and OCD Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) involves uncontrollable thoughts (obsessions) and actions and rituals to try and manage them (compulsions). The person with OCD has thoughts that are persistent, intrusive, and unwelcome, and often accompanied by an urgent need to perform an action such as washing hands or checking on something. Social anxiety disorder is characterized by a fear of being publicly scrutinized in a way that will lead to being humiliated or rejected....

They find it difficult to express emotions and lack the desire to form close personal relationships. This type of personality disorder is believed to be relatively rare and tends to affect more men than women. People with schizoid personality disorder are also at risk of experiencing depression. Schizoid Personality Disorder Symptoms People with schizoid personality disorder typically experience: A preoccupation with introspection and fantasyA sense of indifference to praise and affirmation, as well as to criticism or rejectionDetachment from other peopleLittle or no desire to form close relationships with othersIndifference to social norms and expectationsInfrequent participation in activities for fun or pleasureNot enjoying social or family relationshipsOften described as cold, uninterested, withdrawn, and aloof...

Drinking alcohol can be harmful not only to your health, but also to your work, studies, relationships, and community. This article explores the short-term and long-term effects of drinking alcohol. Short-Term Risks and Effects of Alcohol Consumption According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), these are some of the short-term risks of alcohol consumption, particularly if you binge drink and consume excessive amounts of alcohol: Alcohol poisoning, which is a medical emergency caused by excessive alcohol consumption Violence, including intimate partner violence, domestic abuse, sexual assault, suicide, and homicide Unprotected sex, which can cause sexually transmitted infections (STIs) or unintended pregnancies Injuries, as a result of risky behaviors or accidents such as falls, burns, drownings, and road accidents Fetal harm, in the case of pregnant people, which can include fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASDs), miscarriage, or stillbirth...

Borderline personality disorder symptoms include instability in interpersonal relationships, self-image, and emotion, as well as a pattern of impulsive behaviors. People with BPD often first experience these symptoms in young adulthood and the symptoms tend to continue for many years. BPD may occur in both men and women. The following signs and symptoms may indicate a need to be evaluated by a healthcare professional. Fear of Abandonment People with BPD tend to have difficulties in their relationships....

Types of Snuff “Snuff” often refers specially to dry snuff, but it also comes in other forms. Dry Snuff Dry snuff is a powdered tobacco product that involves curing or fermenting selected tobacco leaves, which are then ground down into a fine powder. Traditional “fine snuff” highlighted the taste of different tobacco blends only, but most of what is sold today has a scent or flavor added as well. Common flavors include coffee, chocolate, plum, camphor, cinnamon, rose, mint, honey, vanilla, cherry, orange, apricot....

This ability serves two purposes in outwardly expressing our emotions and being understood by our peers. A recent study published in Emotion explored this aspect of communication in a new way and found that the speed at which facial expressions are produced influences the way our emotions are recognized by others. The Research Researchers from the University of Birmingham set out to determine whether the speed of spontaneous, posed and communicative facial expressions can indicate an individual’s emotional state....